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- The cyclists in the Tour de France will require a ridiculous number of calories to make it all the way from Brussels down to the Pyrenees and back up to Paris via the Alps.
- They’ll pedal 2,162 miles, or 3,480 kilometers, over three weeks.
- Because the riders have to consume so much food, eating can feel like work, so the chef Olga Belenko prepares meals that are as delicious as they are nutritious.
- The US-based team EF Education First invited Business Insider to its chef’s van, a kitchen on wheels that travels with the race each day, to see what Olga was cooking up for dinner.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
TARBES, France — The riders in the Tour de France consume and burn several thousand calories daily over the 21 stages. They say they eat so much it can feel like work.
That’s where Olga Belenko comes in. She’s the chef for the American team EF Education First, in charge of cooking up nutritious but delicious breakfasts, dinners, and other in-between meals for the duration of the three-week race.
Read more: An American Tour de France team has banned cellphones at the dinner table
She recently invited us into the team’s chef’s van, a kitchen on wheels, to see what the riders were eating for dinner. Because the riders were racing a time trial the next day, Olga wanted to make a meal that wasn’t too heavy and very easy to digest.
These are all dishes you could prepare easily at home to fuel your next workout.
A mixed green salad with lemon.
Daniel McMahon/Business Insider
"A mixed green salad is very important as it’s full of iron," Olga said. The riders start the Tour eating salad with every meal, as well as generous portions of fruit and vegetables, but over the course of the race, they eat less of it and instead ask for more carbs, meat, and, in particular, avocado.
The pros are just like us! They love cheese too.
Daniel McMahon/Business Insider
On the evening we caught up with Olga, she served fresh Parmesan with the mixed green salad. "Parmesan is very old dry cheese," she said, "so the fat from it is very good, and it’s salty, which the riders love." She mixed in pepper and olive oil before serving.
Teamwork.
Daniel McMahon/Business Insider
Carlos Quevedo, Olga’s assistant, drives, shops, cooks, and makes juices for the riders — and helps Olga serve all the food.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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SEE ALSO: Inside the decision that led the best-placed American to stop racing in the Tour
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Source: Business Insider – dmcmahon@businessinsider.com (Daniel McMahon)